Guys for the love of god...HOUSE MEETING

Cleverley · 02-28-2008, 12:20 AM

im calling a house meeting!

right, now were all here i think this needs to be discussed and sorted because i can see this going tits up.

now i know im not a mod or admin but that shouldnt change the fact that i can address a problem and solve it.

so i think we need to focus on 3 things. an agenda if you will.

1. who is running this place and when? if mark is at college and unavailable, then who steps up? is it nelvannya by herself or are we replacing ozziejess? its all about involvement people...we cant have mods getting involved when its an admin job, and we cant have mentors over stepping their remit when something needs to be modded.

2. we all need to invite people we know that would benefit from exasco...it doesnt have to be your best mate but someone who wont be offended by what or who you rant about.

3. were losing members fast...this is not just new people but old members from exasko and further back...we need to address this and find out why...

if i had to put my finger on it...i would say a difficulty is possibly old members (including myself) taking our position for granted. as of yet i have no more powers than the next guy to sign up in 10 minutes...but my flaw is that because ive seen, heard and done half the stuff on here, im numb to it and can seem too black and white...this is something I WILL IMPROVE as best i can.

secondly is egos, we all have them and we all have to take a step back and rationalise/de-dramatise things.

i just think we need a hierarchical management system not based on power but based on who deals with each incident and why.

for example

3 x admins (responsible for making final decisions on bans and recruitment)
4 x mods (responsible for the maintanance of the forum and referring evil do-ers)
4 x mentors (responsible for taking on padawans and offering advice/referral to others)

reason being? workload, opinion and time zones. by having multiple positions, we can have at least one admin, mod and mentor working at any one time which can enable us to be more effective at helping others. otherwise we have everyone on in europe but all the mods are australian for example. also it means that a mod has to seek reasonable grounds and have at least 2/3 admins in agreement that a ban should occur.

now the above is just a suggestion but this is not an ego trip for me...

i just dont want to see this site go down in flames because we couldnt get over ourselves.

its why we have lost a lot of people. so without focusing on that, perhaps if were a bit better re structured, we can improve...

have a great evening all.

nelvannya · 02-28-2008, 02:13 AM

I do agree with you Clev...
The issue about Mods Admin and Mentors is that we keep having them break rules, then quiting.
I think that we need some rules, as well as a job description of what we are to do what we are allowed to do, etc... It think if we get a stable staff, our site will smooth out.
I do agree also with your member comment, we need to bring some people in...
I love all of you and I would hate to see this site end in flames

Lols I always thought of you as a fatherfigure Clev...lols JK

(sha) · 02-28-2008, 04:50 AM

i agree with you too. i just wanna know what the hell is going on. this is ridiculous. why is everyone leaving?? i dont get it. and do we even have any admins at this point???

nelvannya · 02-28-2008, 04:54 AM

Mark is an admin
Im a mod

Markme · 02-28-2008, 04:56 AM

Im actually still around, i just dont have time to do many admin tasks.
I will be appointing more members as mentors and moderators.
I need an admin who can actually do admin things and an admin that i can trust.

Im sick of people wanting to be staff and then either being slack and not coming on any more or asking to step down because they cant handle having to do more than just post.

i will actually be heading home tonight, so i will be able to do a little more.

but Clev i think that your idea is awesome tottally awesome.
its people like you that i need, innovative people.
But i need people to be active, innovative and take charge.

(sha) · 02-28-2008, 05:10 AM

uhm thats what i did. i hated being a mod. im just not one that likes having to fix everyones mistakes, which needs to be told to everyone that wants to be a mod. ya know.

Markme · 02-28-2008, 06:11 AM

i know its what you did, but i dont hold it against you.
i dont hold it against any one.

I cannot force people to do what i want, so i accept what help i can get from people.

!-nessica-! · 02-28-2008, 09:31 AM

also i think once we get some permanent staff and members everyone will get into a routine and the place will run nice and smoothly.
i vote cleverley for site adjudicator
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Cleverley · 02-28-2008, 10:43 AM

thats very kind of you nessica, but id prefer to be a mentor.

i think its possible to have this work...but i agree with nelvannya (who is doing a great job as mod btw) we need guidelines for specific roles. this means no one really out ranks eachother but were just suited to different tasks.

so mods dont mentor as its not their role, admins dont mod (unless no one else available) and mentors do not act like they have the power to ban or mod.

personally i think we could all try to recruit, but admins should take this on as a priority...facebook, myspace, bebo, google, yahoo etc.

maybe we should incorporate a seperate space on the site for mentors. like an "i need a mentor" page where they can ask for help but dont specify what the issue is...then a mentor makes contact and go from there...there is also the issue of sharing info between mentors...i dont think this should happen unless the mentor and the padawan agree to get the opinion of someone else.

as for moderation, i have no idea and im out of my depths.

if we could get 3 admins, 4 mods and 4 mentors that would be brilliant, we have around 160 members and roughly 20 seperate users a day...so having half of us with a position might seem like overkill to begin with, but it will start to even out relatively well.

as for people leaving, we (including myself) need a mature approach...sure we all have issues which is why were here but if we accept this role we have to accept that if we decide to leave and dont explain ourselves and give an honest idea of when we will return, we deserve to lose our position...we would expect the same of any other job. so as i left recently i could say "guys had a really shit thing happen to me, i need a week. can you cover?" instead of "i hate everything bye!"

ok cool.

btw mark please dont think im stepping on your toes and if i am then its unintentional mate, im sure as hell not going to take any credit from this if we decide to do it and if it does work...this is your site!

Markme · 02-28-2008, 01:38 PM

i like your ideas, but i think that all staff actually need to mentor.
And im wanting a new admin, but no one knows how to and i dont have the time to train any one. And they usually have to be with me to learn.
gotta run.

but i really do like your ideas
i just need some time.

My Dreams killed me · 02-28-2008, 04:03 PM

agreed, this is all very useful, Cleverly, you um...clever...wow. You idea's are very good one's but it's fundamental that at least we get some new members...but it seems as if people are often just to afraid to ask for help even if it is anonymous. Alot of people I've talked to seemed to like the idea, but they didn't like the fact that your posting something about yourself on the internet...is their a way to ease that tension?

Cleverley · 02-28-2008, 04:47 PM

encouragement and acceptance...i agree "dreams" you can only lead a horse to water but you cannot make him post on exasco...its the hooves that make it hard to type.

but yes we need to recruit and make it easy for people to make contact...i think the only things i can think of that would put people off are...

1. talking about themselves (encouragement and acceptance)
2. overwhelmed by the topics we have under discussion (i.e. somebody might not be expecting to read about suicide or cutting when they visit to talk about relationships...though i would say they both go hand in hand lol)

thing is, we cant make these issues hidden for the sake of new members, we can also only do so much...just keep nagging and im sure they'll do it eventually...thats how girlfriends think and it seems to work out lol.

for you americans, that was a joke...and the fact that i singled out americans was a joke too...

wow i managed to offend my target audience for relationships (im looking for a yank missus) might have shot myself in the foot.

anyway this is off topic.

i would suggest mark gives a position to a new admin when he has time (no rush, college is important) then go from there...doing a few things properly is better rather than lots of things half done...plus the 2nd admin can train mods to alleviate the issue of mark being at college.

for the record...i can think of about 3 people better suited for that than me.

nelvannya · 02-28-2008, 11:24 PM

good thoughts Clev...
I still think your should be a mod, but I understand....

*sweet-kisses* · 03-01-2008, 02:16 AM

I totally agree with this issue. I understand Mark being in college kinda puts a cramp on the site 'up to date-ness' (sry, can't think of the right word right now...)

My question is....who were the 3 you thinking about to me a mod?

...Loves!

Tommeh!!! · 03-02-2008, 05:36 PM

crikey!! this is quite the topic. I agree that something has to be done, and really we all gotta pitch in.

I know i need to learn how to do more Admin related tasks, as the only reason im an admin is cause i helped mark make the site in the first place...but i might as well make use of the position. The only excuse i have to offer for my lack of being here and learning stuff is time...as at the moment i am very pushed for it, so much so that it seems to have done wonders for my insomnia.

But that aside im glad youve adressed the problems, and made this thread, causes were all thinking it, its just hard to bring up and resolve.